


Hotel Inspector

by wherever_i_may_roam



Series: Twin Flames [4]
Category: Suite Life of Zack & Cody
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Baseball, Boston Red Sox, Confusion, Denial of Feelings, Falling In Love, Growing Up Together, Hotels, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Science Experiments, Slow Burn, Soulmarks, Twincest, Twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:48:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27806326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wherever_i_may_roam/pseuds/wherever_i_may_roam
Summary: A hotel inspector takes control of the Tipton from Moseby, causing him to lose his job. But Zack and Cody cause chaos in the hotel to make the inspector look bad and get Moseby's job back. Zack tries his hardest to avoid Cody.
Relationships: Cody Martin/Zack Martin
Series: Twin Flames [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1854382
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter One

Cody’s been waiting for Zack on the elevator for the last 10 minutes. The small shaft closing every minute just for Cody to force it open again. They were supposed to be upstairs doing their science project, but Cody found his brother in the lobby, playing with his yo-yo. And failing, if the way Zack keeps dropping it on the floor, trying to avoid looking at Cody. He pushes the elevator doors apart once more to keep them from closing. Guests and alike have given him stink eyes each time someone has tried to use the elevator, and Cody tells them to take the next one. He’s not leaving until Zack is on that elevator with him. It’s a matter of time before Mr. Moseby notices. If he can just get Zack on the elevator so they can go work on their project.

Zack’s been acting strange. At least stranger than usual. He’s been avoiding contact with Cody at all costs, and he always makes sure there’s at least a foot between them. Zack may not think Cody hasn't noticed how he keeps ditching him at school, but he has. If the teacher hadn’t made them partners for their science project, he probably would’ve ended up with someone else. And now Zack won’t even help him with it. Not that he expected him to, but some encouragement might’ve been nice. He’s completely ignoring him. Cody doesn’t understand what he’s done wrong to make Zack act like this towards him. It’s completely sudden and Cody’s wracked his brain for what could’ve caused this but keeps coming up empty. He’s tried talking to Zack about it, but it’s no use. The only time he’s not ignoring him is around their mom. Probably doesn’t want her to think they’re fighting or anything. Cody didn’t think they were. At least not on his side.

“Hey, come on, man. We have to go work on our science project,” Cody says, impatiently. He’s so close to just leaving Zack in the lobby and working on the project himself. Which, if he thinks about it, that’s probably what Zack’s doing. Getting out of doing the project and making Cody do everything himself, like usual. It’s so typical of Zack, but he could at least acknowledge him. He can feel Zack distancing himself more and more every day, and it’s killing him. What’s the point of having a soulmate if they don’t even give you the time of day?

“I  _ am  _ doing science.” Zack beams at Cody, spinning his yo-yo in front of him, faster and faster. “Look, centrifugal force.” Cody just rolls his eyes and gives Zack a dirty look. 

“Zack, seriously. I’m not doing this myself.” His words fall on deaf ears as his brother turns his back on him. “Zack!” Why does his brother have to be so infuriating? Fine, he’ll just do it himself. No surprise there. Cody’s used to doing their projects himself, anyway. He steps back into the elevator and lets the doors close. He can at least do his part of the project himself, with or without Zack. Guess it’s going to be without Zack.

Zack stays in the lobby, still spinning his yo-yo around. He’s not avoiding Cody. He'd just rather not be around Cody right now. He keeps giving him smiles that make his heart race. It makes Zack feel things he can’t quite understand. Queasy. This fluttery feeling when he’s around Cody. He just wants it to stop. It’s gone on long enough. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say his brother poisoned him, somehow. Maybe he did.

That'd be ridiculous. 

This whole thing is ridiculous.

Zack keeps telling himself it’s just puberty. That’s why he catches himself staring at Cody sometimes. Why his heart races when Cody looks at him and gives him a bright smile. His hormones are just in overdrive. That’s all. If Cody only knew the struggles Zack was battling with himself. His own brother, __ for fuck’s sake. If Zack just kept his distance then things can go back to normal. Zack will stop having these inane feelings. No matter how hard he tries to stay away, though, Cody is always popping up. He’s just always there. Either Zack is unknowingly tracing his brother’s steps or Cody finds him by pure coincidence. He’s tried to keep his distance. It’s not working. His patience is starting to wary thin. He can avoid him fine at school, no worry, but then it’s one thing himself to stay away from Cody. His brother isn’t exactly the one doing the avoiding and initially finds Zack to have lunch with him. He knows when Cody is close. He can’t explain it, but it makes it easier to hide from him. He’s not sure he even wants to know why this is happening to him.

Then there’s this weird thing where he’ll be thinking about Cody, and his body will mechanically take him to wherever his twin is. He tried not to think about his brother anymore after that. The last time it happened, he found him in the bathroom. Let’s just say he couldn’t look him in the eye for the rest of the day. Or that one time he was walking to class and ended up on the other side of the building where Cody’s class was. He made it so far as to sit down in the class that wasn’t  _ his  _ next to Cody. He didn’t notice until his brother asked him what he was doing there. He made up some lame excuse about making sure Cody made it to class on time. He didn’t seem to buy it, but the smile he gave Zack made it better. And worse.

He just hopes Cody doesn’t notice. He knows his brother. He’ll think he did something wrong, and if there’s one thing wrong here, it’s Zack. Cody could never do any wrong. At least not in Zack’s eyes. If Cody knew what Zack was feeling he couldn’t imagine the disappointment in his twin’s eyes. He knows. He’s ashamed enough. He doesn’t need the conscience of what Cody will think of him too.

The spinning object slips from Zack’s fingers suddenly, caught up in his emotions, and lands in Mr. Moseby’s mug. The older man turns around and glares at Zack.

“Except for that,” Mr. Moseby says, menacingly.

Zack looks at Mr. Moseby in shock. He really didn’t mean for that to happen. It just slipped. If he hadn’t been so focused on Cody this wouldn’t have happened. Zack chuckles nervously at the fire in Mr. Moseby’s eyes and sprints toward the stairs, racing to Suite 2330. He needs to hide before Mr. Moseby finds him. Or worse.

Upstairs, Cody was busy working on their project at the kitchen table. His thoughts kept straying back to Zack, though, making it impossible to concentrate on his work in front of him. Humming sometimes helped.  _ Sometimes _ . He doesn’t know how Zack can do it. Cody can barely go one second without his thoughts straying back to his brother. But yet Zack can keep up this charade that he’s not his soulmate. It’s only gonna hurt them both. The sooner Zack realizes that, the better. Cody knows he should speak up about it. What would he even say, though? 

_ Hey, Zack. You might not know this, but we’re soulmates. So could you stop being a jerk and just kiss me already? _

Yeah, ‘cause that would go over so smoothly. No, if Zack wanted to be with Cody, he would’ve come forward already. He hits on enough girls. He should have no problem telling Cody how he feels. But this  _ is _ Zack’s way of telling him how he feels. He just can’t stand to be around Cody. He probably knows they’re soulmates and doesn’t want to let Cody down. That’s why he’s avoiding him. Finding your soulmate shouldn’t be this hard. It shouldn’t hurt. Cody’s heard of soulmate rejection before. He just never thought it’d happen to him and Zack. 

Cody looks down. He’s startled, looking at his paper. Zack’s name is written all over his page. He must've been so lost in his thoughts he hadn’t realized what he was doing.

“Not again,” Cody whispers, groaning internally. He quickly crumples his paper. He’s always doing this. He really needs to stop spacing out like this. 

Cody feels a tingle in his shoulder right before Zack bursts through the suite in panic.

“Hide me!” Zack exclaims, shutting the door behind him and locking it.

Cody’s head snaps up at the frightened voice of his brother’s. He had just left him. How much trouble could he have possibly gotten himself into?

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What happened?” Carey asks her frightened son, bending down to his height.

“Mr. Moseby’s after me just cause I was playing yo-yo in the lobby…” Carey stands up straight, realizing the situation at hand, “and it might have landed in his mug.” Zack sniffs.

“And then?” Carey asks, crossing her arms, disapprovingly.

“I ran after that. He scares me.” Zack looks down, frowning pitifully.

“Mr. Moseby’s just doing his job. He needs to keep this hotel running smoothly and you tend to be  _ unsmooth _ .” Carey fixes a strand of Zack’s hair before turning around. Zack walks over to stand next to his brother at the table.

“Yeah, unsmooth like when Mom doesn’t shave her legs for 2 weeks,” Cody says from the table, looking at Zack. Zack has the beginning of a smile on his face before Carey turns around with a very shocked look on her face. Surprised at her youngest, her jaw hangs open. Zack puts his arm on the back of Cody’s chair, grinning at their mom, while Cody looks at her innocently.

Cody leans back in his chair a little, causing Zack’s hand to brush with the back of his neck. Zack slides his arm back away from Cody and crosses his arms. Cody frowns at the movement, but keeps his attention on their mom.

Carey raises her brow at the two troublemakers and says accusingly, “Aren’t you two supposed to be working on your science experiment?”

“We’ve already started. Look!” Cody says excitedly, getting up from his seat. He and Zack open two cupboards under the sink and each pulls out a transparent cage with a cassette player attached to the side. The one Cody grabs has a purple lid and Zack’s has a green lid. High-pitched squeaking is heard from the two cages.

As soon as Carey sees the black and white rodents inside, she screams and jumps on the sofa chair. “Aah! No, no, no, no! What- What are you doing with those rats?” She screeches, pointing at them, not coming down from her perch even though they’re locked up and unable to hurt her.

“Science,” Zack says with a huge grin.

“We got them from our school. This is Bonnie, and that’s Clyde. They’re our experiment,” Cody states as they put the rats on the coffee table in front of the couch. Their mother gets out of their way as they get closer.

“Which is what? Giving your mother a heart attack?”

“No, actually, rap music for Bonnie and heavy metal for Clyde, and then Cody writes down a whole bunch of scientific stuff,” Zack says, pointing at each rat, with pride in his voice.

“You know, behavioral changes, like eating habits, mood swings, urination patterns-”

“Eww!” Carey squeals while rubbing her hands on the jeans of her legs. “Why does it have to be rats?!” Her disgust is evident on her face.

“Too late now. We’ve bonded,” Zack tells her. The twins both hold their rats close, still in the cage, to show how much they love them.

“Swell. Well, if you don’t mind, I’m going to take Bonnie and Clyde away from where we eat,” Carey says, pinching the handle of each cage and taking them to the boys’ room.

The doorbell rings and the boys both turn around at the sound. Zack whips around, scared it’s Mr. Moseby.

“I’ll get it,” Cody announces.

“No. Wait,” Zack says, grabbing Cody’s arm. “What if it’s Mr. Moseby?” Cody briefly looks at Zack’s hand on his arm, but is quickly disappointed when Zack stops touching him. Zack had seen the small flicker of eyes on his hand. He didn’t want to seem weird for touching Cody for too long, so he quickly takes his hand off his arm. If he and Cody were going to be normal brothers, he needs to stop with this touchy-feely crap. It’s a wonder why he’s confused.  _ No _ . Not confused. There had to be a possibility he’d be attracted to his brother for him to be confused. And he’s not. He’s not attracted to his brother or confused. At all. Especially when he gives him those warm eyes. “I’m toast.”

_ Figuratively and… li-literally,  _ Zack thinks, looking at Cody’s eyes, and feeling a warm fluttery sensation around his mark. 

Cody knew he had to think fast if he wanted to keep Mr. Moseby from finding his brother. Who knows how much trouble he’s in. Cody’s always trying to protect Zack from trouble. He can just see it now. 10 years from now, bailing his brother out of jail… He should probably start a savings account. Cody’s eye catches the coat closet by the door.

Cody pulls his brother towards the closet. “Quick! Hide in the closet.” Cody shoves his brother roughly into the small space. “Which is where you’ll be for the rest of my life,” Cody mutters to himself. There’s another knock at the door, much louder. Cody takes his position back in front of their suite’s couch and tries to act casual. “Come in,” he calls.

Mr. Moseby swiftly opens the door with a comical grin upon his face. It’s a bit creepy, to be honest. The boys are always so used to a scowl on his face. They didn’t even think smiling was possible for him. Cody cringes on the inside. “Where’s your brother?” Mr. Moseby asks, looking around the suite.

Cody shrugs. “Beats me.”

There’s a small thud from inside the coat closet and then a distinctive  _ ow _ from Zack. Mr. Moseby looks over curiously. As he investigates the noise, Cody rolls his eyes and smacks his face at his idiotic brother. He drags his hand down his face and sees Zack’s stricken face when Mr. Moseby opens the door.

Zack laughs nervously, stepping out of the closet. He walks over to stand next to his brother. “Look, Mr. Moseby, if this is about the yo-yo, then I’m really-”

“Oh, pish-posh,” Mr. Moseby says, waving his hands at his sides, standing in front of Zack and Cody. “Boys will be boys. You were just having fun, and that’s what boys do, isn’t it? They have fun. Hahaha!” Mr. Moseby says, waving his arms around nonchalantly. The twins turn towards him as he passes them and look at him like he grew a third head. Zack looks at Cody, trying to decipher what he might think of this. Mr. Moseby might have just lost it. Truth be told, he is a bit senile. His age must be catching up to him.

“Did that yo-yo bounce off your head?” Zack asks, tapping the air between his hands. 

“No, I’m fine. I came up here to offer you  _ scamps _ tickets to today’s Red __ Sox game,” Mr. Moseby reassures, ruffling Cody’s hair. Cody felt like he was in the twilight zone. Mr. Moseby was being way too nice. “It’s a matinee.” He hands Cody the tickets, who takes them excitedly. He was practically bouncing off his toes.

“The Sox game? All right!” Cody turns to Zack to show them off. Zack looks at them, uninterested.

“And your seats are just above that little hut wherein the players spit and scratch themselves.”

“As nice as that offer is, Mr. Moseby, but I think I’ll have to pass,” Zack says as Mr. Moseby heads for the door to leave. He looks back nervously. Cody looks at Zack incredulously.

“Pass? Dude it’s the Sox game!”

Exactly, it’s the Sox game. Where they’ll have no choice but to spend time together. How is this whole avoiding thing supposed to work if fate keeps throwing them together?

“Yeah, I know, but-” Zack looks at his brother with regret, but this whole thing doesn’t feel right. Mr. Moseby being  _ nice _ . Offering them baseball tickets. There’s gotta be a catch. “Wait! Hold on. There’s something wrong here.”

“Why do you question my generosity?” Mr. Moseby asks innocently.

“Yeah. Why do you question his generosity?” Cody asks, showing Zack the tickets again, feeling like his brother’s not getting the point here.

“I’ll tell you what? You go. I think I’ll just stay here and hang out in the old lobby. Where’s my model rocket? Oh.” Zack makes a show of leaving, but Mr. Moseby’s voice stops him as he walks past him towards the open door.

“No!” Mr. Moseby calls after Zack miserably. He looks from twin to twin, losing the battle. “Alright, fine. The hotel inspector will be arriving soon, and it would be  _ marvelous  _ if you weren’t around.”

“I knew it! We’ll be not around longer if you throw in a little money for dinner,” Zack bribes, grinning casually. Mr. Moseby  _ tsks _ and hands Zack the money.

“I like lobster,” Cody says, milking him for the most he can get.

“Uh-huh. Okay, fine,” Mr. Moseby mutters regretfully and hands Cody more money.

Mr. Moseby leaves, and Cody looks at his brother with a beaming smile. Zack smiles back briefly. He rubs the back of his neck, thinking about how he’s gonna pull this off without getting too close to Cody. Their mom walks out of their bedroom, rat-free.

“Mom! Mr. Moseby gave us tickets to the Sox game,” Cody exclaims, holding up the tickets.

“Oh, well that was nice of him. See, Zack you had nothing to worry about.”

_ I wouldn’t be too sure of that _ , Zack thinks, looking at Cody. He could  _ not  _ go, but he already told Mr. Moseby he would. And Cody just looks too happy for him to turn it down. Zack feels a little shock in his mark that pulls him toward Cody. Zack jumps back, alarmed. Carey looks at her son, quizzically.

“You okay, Zack?”

Zack looks at his mom, surprised. “Yeah! I’m just  _ so _ excited to go to the game,” he says with a thumbs up and a grin.

Zack walks to his room and Cody follows excitedly to grab their baseball mitts.

In their room, as Cody goes straight for the mitts, Zack takes the top of Clyde’s cage off.

“What are you doing?” Cody asks his brother.

“I’m taking Clyde to the game,” Zack tells Cody, taking Clyde out and holding him to his chest.

“You can’t do that. It’ll contaminate the experiment. Who knows what  _ Take Me  _ O _ ut To the Ballgame _ will do to his urinary pattern?”

“Fine, but this is why they like me more than they like you.” Zack reluctantly puts Clyde back in his cage.

“Come on, guys! If we make batting practice, I might meet a player!” Carey hollers from the other room. Cody leaves the bedroom. Zack looks over at the door as Clyde squeaks hysterically.

“Okay, I’ll take you, but don’t tell Cody.” Zack takes Clyde back out and puts him in his jacket pocket. Zack walks towards the door when Bonny starts squeaking and pushes at the lid of the cage. “Oh! Sorry, Bonnie. I didn’t know you’d want to go, too. How sexist of me.” Zack takes Bonnie out and puts her in his other pocket.


	2. Chapter 2

“Isn’t this exciting?” Carey asks the boys as they find their seats in the loud and crowded stadium.

Carey squeezes her way to sit in her seat, Zack following behind. There was only enough room that Cody had to sit next to Zack on the other side. Zack hadn’t planned this all the way through. Cody smiles at him as he sits down. The way Cody smiles at him… it unnerves him. He feels his skin heat up rapidly even though it’s like 50 degrees out and dropping. He quickly looks away so Cody wouldn’t see. Zack’s arm is resting casually on the armrest and when Cody goes to grab their shared drinks between them, his fingers brush against Zack’s. Zack flinches away, making Cody frown. Zack feels an overwhelming urge to grab Cody’s hand and clutch it tightly, but he forced it down. Just like his lunch.

“Are you okay?” The younger twin asks his brother with concern.

“Y-yeah. Never better,” Zack says, nervously. “Hey, Mom!” he says quickly, turning in his seat towards his mom. “Could I switch seats with you I can’t really see from here?”

“We’re in the front. What more do you need to see?” she chuckles.

“T-the peanut guy. What if I want a bag of peanuts? I can’t see him from down here.” Cody’s making him so nervous he can't even lie correctly.

“I could switch seats with you. I can see just fine,” Cody tells his brother.

“No!” Cody recoils back. Zack’s eyes go wide. “I mean, I don’t think you’d be able to see, anyway. Don’t want to ruin your baseball experience, right?” He chortles nervously.

Zack and Carey switch seats, and Cody looks past his mom to look at Zack. Zack hides his face and slouches down in his seat. 

Cody frowns deeply. He’s profusely confused about what has gotten into his brother. He's definitely avoiding him. And he's going to find out why.

During the rest of the game, Zack slowly started to get into it. Not having to feel the presence of his brother so close to him was a huge breather. It’d just help if he didn’t have to feel Cody’s eyes jarring him down. He doesn’t understand what’s wrong with him. He loves being around Cody, but sometimes his brother will look at him a certain way and then he’ll start to get that warm feeling in the pit of his stomach, and he’ll get all hot. Half the time he doesn’t know what to say to Cody, knowing full well he’ll say something stupid and freak him out. He just wants things to go back to normal.

The longer the night went on Zack started to feel more comfortable with his brother, forgetting why he was avoiding him in the first place. They were joking around and having a good time. Zack seemed relatively calmer.

Every so often he could feel Cody’s eyes on him, though. It brings that anxiety from earlier back. He tries to ignore it, but he can feel Cody’s eyes boring into the side of his head. He resists the urge to turn and look, but he fails himself every time.

So yeah, he was having a _great_ time. Everything was just fine until Cody had to go to the bathroom. Would’ve been better if Cody didn’t have the smallest bladder known to man.

“Mom, I have to go to the bathroom,” Cody says, standing up from his seat.

“Zack, go with your brother. And make sure you hold hands. Don’t want you two getting lost.” Carey doesn’t even look at him.

“But Mom-” Zack complains, making Cody roll his eyes at him. A couple minutes alone with his brother will not kill him.

“Don’t argue. Go with your brother,” she says sternly.

Zack sighs angrily and stands up. He follows Cody into the stadium. Cody tries to grab his hand but Zack moves it out of reach and takes a considerable 3 steps away from his brother.

“Why are you acting so weird?” Cody asks beside him.

“Im not acting weird. You’re the one acting weird,” Zack retorts.

“Then why won’t you just hold my hand?”

“Cause it’s weird.”

“It’s only weird if you make it weird.”

“It’s weird, anyway. You’re my brother. I’m not holding your hand.”

In reality, Zack wanted nothing more than to hold his hand, but he pushed it down hard. It was too girly and not something normal brothers did. At least that’s what Zack thought. The way his friends used to tease him whenever Cody wasn’t around. How they would call him gay for doting on him. He had to stop it. And it started with no holding hands. Zack’s first rule, do not hold your brother’s hand. He’s not going to start breaking it now. No matter what.

“So? We’re twins.” 

Zack doesn’t say anything. He looks away from Cody in silence. He doesn’t get why Cody always has to throw that in his face like it’s supposed to mean something. They continue the short walk to the bathrooms in silence. They stop outside the cubicle, but Cody turns to look at his brother for a second.

“Zack, it's normal-”

“Can you just hurry up?” Cody curls his lips but reluctantly goes inside the bathroom when Zack softly says, “Please?”

Zack stays outside the door waiting for his brother. Cody stops and frowns when he comes back out, hearing an odd noise.

“Do you hear that?” Cody asks, looking around for the sound.

“Hear what?”

“It sounds like squeaking.”

“I don’t hear anything.” Zack shrugs.

“Whatever. Let’s just get back to the game.” Cody walks off without Zack, not checking to see if he was walking with him. 


	3. Chapter 3

After the game, the twins and their mom went back home to the Tipton. The boys rushed in excitedly, waving giant foam fingers. They bounce down the front steps in the lobby.

“Hey, Mr. Moseby!” Zack yells, finding the hotel manager in the center of the lobby. Mr. Moseby turns around at his voice and smiles nervously at their return.

“The sox won 10 to 9,” Cody tells him.

“And Mom caught a foul ball,” Zack says, holding up his gloved hand with a baseball resting in the middle.

“Yeah, apparently heads up means heads down,” the twins’ mom says, entering the lobby and joining the boys. She’s wearing a white bandage on the corner of her forehead from where the ball had hit her.

“So is the evil hotel inspector gone yet?” Zack asks Mr. Moseby.

“No. She’s right here.” A blonde woman with a thick German accent steps in from behind Mr. Moseby.

“Whoa! What’s that on your face?” Zack asks, pointing at the thick blemish on her face with his foam finger. Carey, embarrassed, quickly puts her hand over his mouth from further talking.

“It’s her beauty mark,” Mr. Moseby replies through clenched teeth.

“But it has a hair on it. I mean-” Cody remarks, studying the mole before he too gets a hand over his mouth.

“It’s a good thing I don’t have triplets. I’ve run out of hands,” Carey jokes. “Thanks again for the tickets to the game,” she says to Mr. Moseby.

Carey releases the boys and expects them to walk with her towards the elevator, but with Zack’s mouth free he starts talking again. “Yeah, thanks. We know they’re usually for the guests, so we really appreciate it.”

Unbeknownst to anyone, Bonnie and Clyde slip out of Zack’s pockets.

The inspector scribbles in her notebook and mutters loudly, “Oh, ignores guest needs for friends.”

“They’re not my friends,” Mr. Moseby says, offhandedly. This seemed to make matters worse.

“Oh. Ignores guest needs for strangers.”

“Ugh!”

“What kind of hotel manager are you?” she asks Mr. Moseby, glaring at him.

“He’s the best. He’s number one,” Cody tries to defend. He and Zack wave their foam fingers in agreement.

“Yeah,” Zack says, “last week, he let us cook s’mores in the kitchen, and then he put out the fire all by himself.” Zack may have thought he was helping, but Carey just wished the boys would keep their mouths shut.

“Okay!” Carey pulls the boys away quickly.

Ilsa has a sour look on her face as she addresses the manager. “Mr. Moseby, I have been here for 5 minutes, and I am not impressed.”

“I assure you, there will be no more surprises,” Mr. Moseby says with confidence.

“Aah! Rats!”

A commotion breaks out as multiple guests jump up and start screaming. A significant amount of them being women.

“Starting now,” Mr. Moseby states with enthusiasm as chaos erupts around him.

“Mr. Moseby,” Ilsa says in disgust, “in my 20 years as a hotel inspector, I have never been so appalled. Rats in the lobby?”

“Yeah, but-”

“Dut, dut, dut,” Ilsa cuts in, raising a finger in the air. “I am taking over the management of this hotel until a review board arrives to make their final decision. Your Tipton hotel keys.” She holds her hand out, palm up, and Mr. Moseby looks down miserably to take them out of his pocket.

“Not his keys,” Zack moans out, horrified, from where he, his brother, and mother are watching near the elevator.

“Your gold-plated Tipton badge.” Mr. Moseby reluctantly hands it over.

“Not the badge!” Cody cringes.

“Your Tipton tie.”

“I feel compelled to disclose that I am wearing custom-made Tipton boxer shorts,” Mr. Moseby says as he takes his tie off his neck and hands it to the hotel inspector.

“Dry-clean them and send them back,” she says bluntly before walking away without another word.

Mr. Moseby looks at her appalled before turning to leave. Everyone was looking at him with sympathy. Mr. Moseby didn’t deserve this. He takes one look at the hotel he called his home and with his head down he exited the Tipton Hotel.

“Oh, poor Mr. Moseby,” Carey says, sincerely.

“Yeah. But what are the odds? There are 2 rats downstairs, and we have 2 rats upstairs.” Cody replies, heading for the elevator.

Carey has a sneaking suspicion and turns towards her oldest. “They are upstairs, aren’t they?”

Zack could lie and say he didn’t sneak Bonnie and Clyde out of the hotel, but then how would he explain the 2 missing rats upstairs. He looked at his brother’s face and knew he had to tell the truth. “Well,” he caved.

“Oh!” Carey groans in resentment.

“I mean, they were in my pocket when we got back from the game. They must’ve snuck out when we got to the hotel,” Zack explains.

“You ruined our science experiment,” Cody says disapprovingly.

“And more importantly, you may have ruined Mr. Moseby. Zack, you better think about what you just did. You may have cost the man his job.” Carey looks at her son with disappointment before walking onto the elevator.

Zack looks down with guilt clouding his head. He didn’t mean for Mr. Moseby to lose his job. He was just having fun. Now everyone is mad at him.

* * *

Cody’s first thought once they got back up to their suite, was to find the rats. Their experiment depends on him. And supposedly Zack. It’s his fault they’re stuck in this situation. If his brother had just listened to him.

“Hey, I think I know a way to find Bonnie and Clyde,” Cody says, walking out of their shared room. “We can make a trail of cheese in the hotel and catch them.”

“Hey, yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” Zack looks at his brother from the couch. “You get the cheese,” he says, standing up.

Cody pulls a bulk of cheese out of the fridge and cuts it up into cubes before putting them in a small plastic bag. He heads for the door with Zack but stops when his brother doesn’t follow him down the hallway. 

“I think we should go separate ways so we can cover more ground,” Zack says, rubbing the back of his neck. His hand came back slightly clammy, and he wiped it on the back of his shirt.

“But I have the cheese,” Cody mutters.

“So give me some and I’ll go this way.”

Cody doesn’t make any movement to give Zack any cheese. Zack rolls his eyes and takes a handful of the small cubes from the bag. He turns and walks away quickly down the hall, but when he rounds the corner, Cody grabs his wrist.

“Zack, wait! What’s going on with you?” Cody asks, insistently. He was tiring of Zack’s games and just wanted the truth.

“Nothing. I just want to find Bonnie and Clyde.” Zack dodges his brother, but Cody gets in front of him and blocks his path. Zack could easily push him aside, but there’s something about the way Cody’s looking at him that makes him want to stay. 

“No, you’ve been avoiding me and I want to know why.”

Cody’s close now. When did he get so close? Zack stumbles on a step backward, putting a small distance between the two.

Zack scoffs. “I have not been avoiding you. How can I avoid you? You sleep in the bed across from me.” It’s not easy avoiding his twin brother, even if he tried. He’s always there. Everywhere.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you made Mom sit between us at the Sox game. Let alone not even wanting to go,” Cody glares at him.

“I couldn’t see the game,” Zack huffs. He’d do anything to end this conversation. 

“Oh please! You could see perfectly. You just didn’t want to sit next to me.”

“That’s not true!” Zack is offended Cody would think that, even if it is slightly true.

“You’ve hardly helped with this science experiment. You’re gone before I wake up each morning and I wake up pretty early, Zack. Just admit it, you’re avoiding me.” Cody’s voice rises in pitch. Something he only does when he’s scared.

Zack felt an unease of abandonment. He didn’t know where this feeling was coming from, and it unsettled him.

Zack shakes his head and says, “Cody, it’s not what you think.” He holds his hand out as if he’s about to touch Cody’s arm, but he slowly puts it back down. He wanted to comfort his brother, calm him down. He didn’t know how. Not like this.

“What? That my own brother can’t stand to be around me?” Cody crosses his arms in front of him and Zack takes a small step towards him.

“No, Cody, of course, I want to be around you... I just... I don’t know... I’ve just been feeling off and didn’t want to worry you. It’s probably just puberty.” It’s as close to the truth as Zack can get. No use in worrying his brother. He does that all by himself.

“Off how?” Cody peaks up at him. He had a knowing look on his face that Zack couldn’t quite intercept.

“I don’t know Cody. Just off. Come on, we gotta find Bonnie and Clyde.” If he didn’t stop this now Cody will start crying and that is definitely not something he can handle right now. Zack turns around and takes a few steps in the other direction. Cody touches Zack’s arm, and he stops to look at him.

“Just promise you’ll stop avoiding me.”

It didn’t used to be this hard to say no to Cody. In this instant, all he wanted to do was say no. But that’s not what happened.

“Yeah, okay.”


End file.
